An Old Poem
For my 25th birthday I recieved this from my dear Cheryl:
A POEM FOR PRINCE IASON
There was once a young prince from a land far away,
of the masculine type, cos I’ve heard that they say
that he wrestled with dungeons and dragons each day,
and frequented a jailhouse infested with bears
whom he skewered on a pole, then sent back to their lairs,
and concerned himself mainly with manly affairs;
that’s the gist of the things that they say.
So I don’t think the prince could be gay.
So although I confess he drank Cosmos not beer,
and when Pride came along, was a keen volunteer,
and he frequently swam in the skimpiest gear,
I don’t care that he boogied to seventies disco.
So what if he wanted to see San Francisco,
or, next to his bed, had a bucket of Crisco?
Oh, why do you get the idea
that our masculine prince might be queer?
Now, his father, the king, was a little irate
that he never took ladyfriends out on a date;
but preferred to retire to his room with a mate.
Why he holed up with boy-chums, he wouldn’t confide
(they were strangely dishevelled when coming outside)
so his Dad planned to buy him a mail-order bride,
and was sure it’d really be great.
For the prince was most certainly straight.
Now the princess arrived with intent to be wed
and peculiar buns on the sides of her head,
but alas, he was charmed by her brother instead.
With a ripple of muscles, Luke swung from his horse
and it seemed he was certainly using the force
(and his light-saber leapt into action, of course)
and the prince turned surprisingly red,
as he offered to show him his bed.
In a frenzy with envy, the princess was green;
for it seemed her fiance was not very keen.
She ran into the chamber and witnessed the scene:
she feared her fiance may soon be her ex
as the Jedi in bed was preparing for sex
so she ripped off her robe to show abs, glutes and pecs
all defined with a glistening sheen,
for the princess was really a queen.
Now our posturing prince was a bit of a player,
he saw the princess and he wanted to lay ‘er.
Poor Luke was ignored as they ran to the mayor.
The married at once then they danced in the square
then they feasted on sausage and similar fare.
The king thought they’d soon be producing an heir.
Now our hero is happy with Leia;
the pair of them couldn’t be gayer.
Oh sweetness, I do miss you 
Girlyscouts
This video, which has now been removed, showed us a young girl explaining why transgendered kids has no place in the GSUSA (Girl Scouts). The organisation allows transgender girls to join and is, in the video, accused of trying to keep this a secret.
Shady Love
Takes three attempts to like it. But then you really like it!
Pitfalls
This tampon commercial is taking a lot of heat.
I should say: this transphobic tampon commercial is taking a lot of heat. There is a lot of focus on the rights and ethics concerning transsexuals these days and it doesn’t always leave a lot of room for humour or attempts at humour. Here in Denmark transsexuals are still considered mentally ill and just recently a Danish blogger caught the same wave of indignation that is now washing over the tampon company.
Homotropolis is on the beat as always but maybe a little fast when it comes to labelling the much debated video. When the headline of a post states that “transphobic commercial demanded off the net” it’s not really leaving a lot of room for reflection. What would be constructive would be to talk about why this commercial comes off as transphobic, rather than just rage, label and start collecting protest signatures.
Ups?
(One of the reasons I blog is to keep up with my english writing. This one, however, is going to be in danish since I am dealing with a text written in my first language)
Miriam Meyer har fået en hård medfart på grund af en “artikel” skrevet på Ekstra Bladets modeblog. Når jeg sætter artikel i gåseøjne er det fordi jeg ser en klar forskel på et stykke arbejde lavet af en journalist og et indlæg på en blog. En forskel der kan være let at overse og som jeg syntes der bliver talt meget lidt om. Jeg tror at en af grundene til at Miriams artikel er blevet så dårligt modtaget er at den rummer nogle uheldige formuleringer og rammer en tone som en trænet skribent måske havde været i stand til at bevæge sig udenom.
Apparently It’s Time
This, rather lovely, Australian video has been goung around my friends circle and some other channels I “listen” to recently. Stating “it’s time”.
Also Zach Wahls moving testament is still rousing people from their chairs (or at least prompting a push of the “share” button).
There is a kind of “buzz” for things to change on this front. I can relate to the sentiment that it is time. But time for what?
God Hates…
This is pretty heavy stuff. Still, instead of screaming for it to go away, I think it’s important that people see it. Can’t turn a blind eye even to the most ugly parts of reality.
EDIT: finally found some writing on this. Wiki also has some info.
Dragon Age Bitch Slaps II
Krissie, the original author of the post on No More Lost I commented on myself, mentioned that this had gone viral. I find that I very much agree.
Penny Arcade has their own view on things which, as expected, has very little to do with mainstream human/human sexuality (I hear those guys have wifes… and a ranch). From that realm I also learned that some gay people want David Gaider fired for his stereotyped portrayal of gay men.
Meanwhile; the OP himself has made use of the edit button. As Krissie said he is indeed not-the guy-who-argued-and-learned. He did pick up on one thing though:
“I don’t see how Gaider’s reply was in anyway blasting my arguments.”
Gaider was indeed not blasting the argument (but in case he wanted those blasted Torill does it quite nicely here) he was blasting an opinion (which he found uninformed and offensive) and that’s a very important distinction. Priviledge and those so completely entrenched in it that they cannot imagine how things look on the other side of being catered to 99% of the time (and this I stole from a feminist) was being blasted.
In other words: he was not blasting the argument, he was blasting you.
Dragon Age Bitch Slaps
The other day I was talking to my friend about the option of inserting a script into the original Dragon Age game which would allow you to have a homoerotic adventure with Alistair ( favorite non-existent heartthrob of both male and female gamers all over the world).
As this article on No More Lost explains BioWare has decided to motivate the gay geeks to spend their time playing the game instead of hacking it’s content (an effective buisness model that surely will result in a 100% hack-to-game conversion ratio… unless someone starts pining for fetish specific options that is).
I cringe, however, when the otherwise excellent retort from BioWare is framed as a resounding bitch slap. I really wish actual gay rights activists could command the relaxed tone and the eye-to-eye approach that David Gaider displays in his response. In my opinion gay rights could really benefit from dismounting the moral high horse from which it liberally dispends ridicule and “bad-human-being” -badges to those who does not display the right opinions.
David Gaider is indeed very right when he says that:
“While an ignorant opinion politely expressed doesn’t make it less ignorant…”
But more importantly he also states that:
“…No matter the opinion, I think how it’s expressed deserves the same in kind. If you can’t do that, refrain.”
It’s often said that the key to spreading acceptance of alternative sexualities is to educate. I sincerely wish that No More Lost would have chosen to present the “Straight Male Gamer” as “The Guy Who Argued and Learned” rather than “The Guy Who Was Told Off In A Manner Befitting His Wrong Ass Opinions”. I don’t expect anyone to be willing to learn from someone who quite obviously despise him.
